by John Nest
With his footing stabilized, he resumed his attack. He squinted his eyes and carefully observed the life bars of the Pirates. They displayed values between 85,000 to 99,000 HP.
'They more or less have the same life bars as Brandals.' thought Smoke and smirked.
With eighty of them still coming his way, he opened Igniz's orb-like compartment. Before Igniz could fly off, he gently held onto him and hurriedly told him their game plan.
"I'll need your help, bud, but be sure to stay hidden in the tree." he pointed to the pirates below, "Just light 'em up from here."
As soon as he released Igniz, multiple firewalls erupted from the ground in a line right in front of the incoming Pirates. The life bars of ones that were leading the charge started to drain quickly, as they were too slow to react and hurtled straight through the firewalls, taking damage in the process and being inflicted with Burning status.
The Skullcaps that stopped in front of the firewalls stood in place and could only watch as their partners in crime that went through were being finished off with arrows and fireballs. Shocked at the unexpected fire attacks, they looked towards their captain for orders.
Jane scowled at the firewalls and clicked her tongue in frustration. "Tch. Forget the Archers, just break through the front line!" she yelled.
As Nain and the rest of the Pirates charged at Brax and his men, Igniz's fireballs kept hitting their backs for increased damage.
Meanwhile, Smoke set his sights on a different target. He leapt up onto a higher tree branch and took a deep breath. His power chainsaw bow creaked as he pulled back the bowstring as far as he could.
In one fluid motion, he released all the tension in the string and his arrow flew high over the firewalls. It glided through the air smoothly until it finally hit its mark. It lodged itself into Captain Snow's shoulder, staining her blue naval jacket with blood and inflicting her with Poisoned status. Her life bar displayed (245,743/250,000 HP).
"How dare you, you cowards!" Jane looked furious as she yelled and pulled the poisoned arrow out of her shoulder, "Healers, to me! Mr. Nain, kill them all and don't come back empty-handed or I'll personally make you walk the plank!" As she retreated back into the captain's cabin, seven Halflings rushed to her aid.
* * * * * *
Faced against two Skullcaps, Brax surprised his fellow villagers when they saw him fight. His hands trembled while holding the sword and shield, but he held his ground.
Due to Brax's height advantage over the Skullcaps, he threatened one of them with a downward swing of his sword. The Halfling instantly took a defensive stance and parried Brax's attack.
The Skullcap then took a step forward and pushed his sword against Brax's, buying time for the other Skullcap to come at Brax from the side and stab him with a dirk. Brax kicked away the Pirate in front of him and swung his shield at the other attacker, but missed him. He took a couple of steps back and tried to stop the bleeding by clipping the wound with his elbow.
One of the Sans Valeur Fishermen snuck from behind the dual-wielding Skullcap and took him by surprise, skewering him with a harpoon. Brax dashed for the one in front of him and slashed his right hand, making him drop his weapon. Together, Brax and the Fisherman quickly finished them off.
Brax took a look at his life bar, which displayed 85%, and thanked the Fisherman for his timely aid. He then quickly scanned the battleground and found that most of his fellow villagers were struggling, with four of them already dead.
Forte and the three other muscular men were fighting a losing battle. With their focus on raw strength, Forte and his group were significantly slower than the short and agile Skullcaps, and couldn't hit them properly. They managed to land several lucky shots and got some damage in, but it wasn't enough to finish the job. Their life bars were steadily depleting, with Forte having the lowest life bar at (129,278/190,000 HP).
Brax's bravery inspired the rest of the defenders as he and the Fisherman who saved him zoomed en route to Forte. Yet while running, Brax still silently prayed to Fleuve for a miracle to save them as they continued to fight for their lives and the lives of children of Sans Valeur. His prayer was interrupted when a Skullcap leapt at him from the side and dug his dirks into Brax's shield.
THUD
Landing only about a meter away from them, Smoke accurately slashed the back of that Skullcap with his chain and sickle several times. He saw Brax thank him with a nod. He returned the gesture and started fighting his way towards Forte.
Smoke and the villagers defending the village entrance managed to kill thirty-five Skullcaps, but at the price of heavy casualties. There were only sixteen villagers left, and their life bars were at less than 50%.
Smoke clearly stood out among them, expertly dodging almost all attacks aimed at him and cutting down Pirates with relative ease. It didn't take long before Nain recognized him as the biggest threat on the battlefield. Cutting down the villager he had been locked in battle with, he addressed his companions.
"Surround the DarkElf, lads! Send that scallywag to Davey Jones' locker!" he yelled.
Immediately, a group of twenty Halflings went to face Smoke. The ones approaching him from behind hastily threw several throwing knives at him. As his Cunning of the Dire Fox could not detect projectile attacks, he received six knives to the back. He turned around in pain. More throwing knives came his way and he did his best to avoid them.
He then sensed two Halflings charging at him from both his sides. He swung his sickle in a wide arc around him intending to slash their torso, but they reacted quickly to the incoming scythe and one jumped out of its way, while the other blocked it by putting his arms in front of him, receiving only shallow cuts.
'I see why Forte and his men are having a hard time dealing with these guys.' he thought to himself.
The Halflings proved to be tricky opponents for Smoke. Their height forced him to adjust his fighting style accordingly, he had to pay a lot more attention to his footwork because they kept targeting his legs, and he had to use faster but less powerful strikes with his weapon to successfully hit them. He wasn't inexperienced in fighting enemies much smaller than him due to facing Gobble Goblins recently, but the Skullcaps were faster and more intelligent than those monsters.
He couldn't use the deadly Cyclone of Slaughter with villagers all around him, but Smoke was still on top of the task. Albeit taking frequent hits, he began dispatching the Pirates that were coming at him one by one.
Nain felt a mixture of frustration and fear as he watched his fellow Skullcaps perish under Smoke's chain and sickle. One of them that was sent flying towards him stood up, covered in deep cuts, and turned to face him. "That son of a biscuit-eater is too strong. Half of us are dead, Nain. This village isn't worth knocking on death's door." he said.
"Aye, matey, but Cap'n will..." Nain replied before something drew his attention. "Follow me. You two as well. Smartly, lads." he said to the Skullcaps close to him and started moving swiftly across the battlefield, "This could be our ticket out of this wretched place."
After a few minutes, Smoke finally finished dealing with all twenty Skullcaps that had ganged up on him and kept mercilessly attacking him. Panting hard for air and with roughly 40% on his life bar, he lifted his head and looked over the battlefield. The battle was over; the group he was fighting was what remained of the eighty Skullcaps who got off their ships.
Smoke looked to his left and found Forte and the three other muscular men carrying the few surviving and heavily-injured villagers back to the village for treatment. On his right, he saw Vex sitting on his knees at the riverbank, his harpoon stabbed in the ground next to him. The ten pirate ships were gone.
Remembering his symbiote, Smoke quickly ran towards the tree Igniz was still hiding in. He leapt up the branches and found his dark ember sprite glowing faintly, concealing itself as best as it could. "Well done, bud." he smiled as he motioned for Igniz to return to his metal compartment.
He then moved next to Vex, who was blankl
y staring at the river. He assumed Vex was mourning the loss of his fellow villagers, and tried to think of comforting words to say to him. As he was about to place his hand on his shoulder, Vex spoke in a low voice.
"They took him." he said.
"What?" Smoke asked, confused, with his hand lingering in the air.
"I saw them taking him away, but I couldn't get through..." Vex said as he clenched his fists.
"Who did they take?" asked Smoke. Then, his eyes widened as it came to him.
He looked around frantically before asking a question he already knew the answer to. "Where is Brax?"
* * * * * *
The heavy silence gave the bamboo house a suffocating feeling. Smoke sat quietly in one corner, as he was invited to join San Valeur's council meeting. The silence was eventually broken by Vex.
"We should accept our losses and move on. In the end, the village was successfully defended and that's what matters. We need to fortify our defenses and keep the gates closed at all times." his voice quivered as he spoke.
The bamboo house fell silent once again. Prex let out a deep sigh, turned to Vex and said, "I do agree with you on fortifying our defenses. Let us start making plans for that right away. Also, we need to form a rescue party for Brax."
"I'm sorry, Father, but I'm afraid I have to insist on not saving him." Vex interrupted him before he could continue.
Everyone in the room was shocked by what he said. They stared at him in disbelief.
"What are you saying, Vex?!" Prex said with a raised voice, "He's your brother. He's the next in line to be chief!"
"I know that well, Father. I assure you that, even though we think differently, I love Brax. But how many men do you think it would take to rescue him? Even Forte, our strongest fighter, had a hard time dealing with the Skullcaps." Vex explained as he described what happened in their battle, "Now that there's only a handful of people who are able to fight left, we need all of them here to protect the village. We can't risk everyone's lives to try to save one man."
The villagers averted their eyes downward, knowing that Vex had a point.
"We can't just abandon him!" Prex yelled.
"If I were the one who was taken, I would not wish for you to come and find me." Vex said calmly, "I can't stomach the idea of someone recklessly risking their life for the sake of my own, and I think you know that Brax shares this sentiment."
Prex paused for a moment before sinking into his chair and covering his eyes with his fingers. It was apparent in how much pain he was.
Smoke, who sat in silence up until then, stood up and spoke confidently. "You don't have to send anyone. I alone will go and save Brax."
All eyes in the room were on Smoke. Prex's face instantly lit up as if Smoke had already returned his son to him. Revealing tears in his eyes, he motioned for him to come closer. When he did, Prex whispered into his ear. "It shames me deeply, to have to ask of you to put yourself in danger one more time for the sake of someone you had just met. Please bring my son back to me."
As expected, a notification window popped up.
+ Quest: Steal from the Thieves
Liberation Quest
Level: C
Prex, chief of Sans Valeur village, requested that you liberate his son from the Skullcaps and bring him back alive.
Accept the Quest? [YES/NO]
Smoke nodded and said, "He may get injured along the way, but I'll be sure to bring him back to you in one piece."
* * * * * *
From the sky, Smoke and Igniz surveyed the river for pirate ships. After about six hours of searching, they finally spotted a lone ship anchored near the riverbank. Smoke saw the same black flag with a skullcap in the middle as before.
They stealthily landed on one of the trees within an earshot from the Skullcaps and hid in its branches. Smoke observed eight Pirates on the ground, cooking spined coyotes over a campfire.
"...DarkElves are nothing compared to Captain Vlad." said one of the Halflings, "He was the most fearsome River Pirate there ever was. Whenever he set his sights on a village, you could be sure that there'd be impaled heads in front of its entrance within a couple of days. He ran rampant all throughout the Murray!"
"And yet, he was slain by none other than Admiral P. Shooter." said the other Skullcap beside him, "Now that man made me think twice about becoming a Skullcap. His battles were always a sight to behold. They say he once fought a hundred Pirates at once and didn't even get his coat dirty."
"Vlad, Shooter, those guys can't hold a stick to the Merchant Ryofoi. He took everything from everyone! What he was doing was robbery in plain sight, and the authorities could do nothing about it. That guy was the most diabolical man I knew." said another Skullcap.
"Aye, those three are indeed fearsome characters of the Murray, but I say that Captain Jane Snow is right up there with them." said one of the Halflings as he stood near the campfire, "She gathered the crews of other Pirates in the area and formed us all into the Skullcaps. Heck, I don't even know half the guys we work with these days, but she's got all of 'em eating out of the palm of her hand."
"That's our Cap'n Snow for you. She never fails to send shivers down me timbers." replied the other with a wink and they all burst into laughter.
"But going back to that DarkElf, he was quite something too. I gather he took out almost thirty of our men by himself." said a Skullcap, "I heard that we now have less than two hundred men because of that attack on Sans Valeur."
Suddenly, all of them fell silent at once. Then one of the Skullcaps spoke, "You know, they say that it's bad luck when a merry group falls si..."
THUD
Using his Stunning Landing, Smoke confidently landed on the campfire and extinguished it. He was confident he could withstand the flame due to his high Fire resistance. From his position, Smoke easily went after the two nearest Skullcaps and sliced their throats with his sickle, inflicting the Bleeding status on them.
After the Pirates snapped out of being stunned, one of them yelled for help. "We're under attack! Casser, Nouille, help us!" However, he was instantly silenced as Smoke activated his Cyclone of Slaughter.
The two Skullcaps on board the ship stood on the helm and looked towards the riverbank to see what was going on. They quickly found that their shipmates were being slaughtered by a single DarkElf. Realizing that there was nothing they could do to save them, they hurriedly pulled up the ship's anchor and unfurled the sail.
As they began to drift away, the one called Casser shouted back. "We will avenge your death, Maudit! We'll be sure to tell Captain Snow about this."
"We'll get you for this, DarkElf!" yelled the one called Nouille.
Smoke observed how their ship could not flee fast enough. He switched to his power chainsaw bow and attacked the yelling Skullcap with a volley of poison arrows. His target was caught off guard and took all twelve arrows to his chest.
The Pirate fell on the deck of the ship, inflicted with Poisoned status and his life bar left with less than 45%. Smoke knew that the poison damage would kill him in the next couple of minutes.
'I only need one of them to lead me to where their base is.' thought Smoke to himself as he stealthily followed the fleeing ship, gliding from tree to tree.
After twelve hours of pursuit, Smoke was surprised to see a notification pop up.
+ Entered Port Royal
Headquarters of the Pirates known as the Skullcaps. This area once belonged to a powerful monster until the Pirates turned it into their harbor.
However, he saw nothing but the Murray river until he went past a riverbend. The harbor itself was built in the middle of the river, with a tall, moss-covered cliff far to its right side. Four rocky islands were connected with wooden bridges held up by long, thick pillars. Numerous wooden shacks were scattered across the makeshift marina.
As he had traveled for quite some time, Smoke decided to take a much-deserved rest and logged out of Zectas in order to get in some shut-eye.
* * * *
* *
A moonless night fell over the Murray. Smoke spent some time using Telefax Vision and observing the layout of buildings in the harbor while sticking close to the trees near it. Igniz was placed inside his compartment to minimize his luminance.
'At least their security is lax' thought Smoke. There weren't any patrolling guards, and he could see just two watchtowers on the opposite sides of the harbor, with a single Halfling on the top of each.
The pirates' base had oil lamps hanged on wooden posts along specific shacks. He focused on checking out those places first in search of Brax.
Smoke glided towards the rocky island closest to him. With the current range of his Cunning of the Dire Fox, he sensed that there were one hundred fifty Skullcaps in the harbor.